Eric H

Obama: Out Of Touch Aug 29, 2008

Here is what he actually said during the interview in which the "how do you define rich" question came up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q2sAFH7zj0.

Has answer really only sounds out of touch with reality if you repeat the "$5 million" and leave off all of the other parts of his answer, including the part where he predicts that the $5 million number will be distorted (or in the case taken out of context).

The number is too high, but that's because he didn't want to answer the question with a number but rather use it to illustrate his point. Maybe not a great way to construct an answer, but the Obama ad "Out of Touch" says "McCain just said ... that anyone making less than $5 million a year is a middle class" which is a massive, shameless distortion of his answer.

McCain: Debra Aug 29, 2008

Supporting reference for Matt's statement above: http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/08/from_the_rnc_podium_mccain_doe.html

Obama: Out Of Touch Aug 28, 2008

CBS News' blog "Horserace" clarifies the distorted "anyone making less than $5 million a year is middle class" claim:

From Horserace: “And anyone making less than five-million-dollars-a-year is middle-class,” the announcer adds. This is a reference to McCain’s comment to Rick Warren that a $5 million income is what it takes to be considered rich, a comment his campaign later said was a joke and McCain predicted would be distorted."

I'm not sure why either campaign is so quick to distort the truth in this way. I guess because they know 99.99% of the time they'll get away with it as people either don't do the research or don't get upset when they find out they've been fed a lie?

McCain: Debra Aug 28, 2008

I am not aware of having met any Democrats who intend to vote for McCain. If a Democrat for McCain reads this message, would you mind sharing your thoughts on the subject?

McCain: Broken Aug 28, 2008

While researching both candidates' record of "battling big oil" I came across this very interesting article on the nature of poll data (which happened to use a poll about offshore drilling as it's example). I think this article is a terrific read on the nature of poll data: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_08/014266.php

Obama: Out Of Touch Aug 28, 2008

Actually, he probably didn't know exactly how many houses were in the family because Cindy McCain owns some and there are several owned by Limited Liability Partnerships. PolitiFact puts the number at 8. c.f. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/635/

McCain released a counter-ad attacking Obama's home ownership in response to this ad. I didn't see it on speechology, but you can see the original ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjC2AlWy6CI. FactCheck.org had a field day with that one: http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/rezko_reality.html.

/eh